Do emerging adults know what their friends are doing and does it really matter? Methodologic challenges and associations of perceived and actual friend behaviors with emerging adults' disordered eating and muscle building behaviors.

ABSTRACT: Disordered eating and muscle building behaviors are common among emerging adults, and friends may be a particularly salient social influence. Epidemiologic research often includes questions about participants' perceptions of their friends. A less common approach, with greater logistical challenges, is to ask for friend nominations and then survey friends about their actual behaviors. The comparability of these different approaches is unknown. This study addresses the following research questions: 1) What is the feasibility of collecting data from emerging adults' friends in epidemiologic research? 2) Do perceptions of friends' weight- and shape-related behaviors align with friends' actual behaviors? and 3) Are perceptions or friends' actual behaviors more strongly and consistently associat

SUBMITTER: Eisenberg ME 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8404414 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature